Dogs in Space

A brilliant 1987 film, notably starring Michael Hutchence of INXS. Follows a group of animals (errr... a band called 'Dogs in Space') living a life of punk rock, liqour, heroin and intravenous adreneline. Directed by Richard Lowenstein. Pretty gritty, but satellites still get a mention! If you missed the Hutchence burning star while he was alive, check this out - he's at his prime.

Laika: Sputnik 2; November 3, 1957
Female Siberian Husky mutt.
She died after the power source to the satellites life-support ran down. Sputnik 2 returned to Earth April 14, 1958, burned up on reentry.

Bars "Lynx" and Lisichka "little fox": July 28, 1960
The boosters exploded and both dogs were killed on take-off.

Belka "Squirrel" and Strelka "Little arrow": Sputnik 5; August 19, 1960
These were the first dogs to be recovered alive.
When Strelka later had a litter of puppies then President Kennedy received one as a gift.

Verterok "Breeze" and Ugolyok "Little piece of coal": Kosmos 110, February 22, 1966
Orbited for 22 days, progress monitored via video and biomedical telemetry. Landed March 16, 1966 and remains the canine space flight record. The human record did not surpass them until Skylab in June 1974!